Resilient automobile suffer



GL'AL L'YON.

R ESIUENT' momma BUFFER.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT- IB; 1919.

1,325,745.. v Patented- Dec. 233919.

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of Philadelphia.

T FIEQ.

GEORGE ALBERT LYON, 0F PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

RESILIENT AUTOMOBILE-BUFFER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec 23, 1919.

Application filed September 18,- 1919. Serial No. 324,293.

To all whom, it may concern 1 Be it known that I, GEORGE ALBERT LYON, a citizen of the United States, and resident county of Philadelphia, State of Pennsylvania, have made a certain new and useful Invention Relating to Resilient Antonlohile-Bufi'ers, of which the following is a sjJecitication, taken in connection with the accompanying drawing.

This invention which a continuation in part of my co-pending application, Serial No. 310,937, filed July 15, 1919, that is, contains subject-matter taken therefrom, re-

lates especially to. automobile or other vehicle bufiers formed of resilient strip steel or other metal in which the attaching members have their connector portions which cooperate with or engage the buffer front member preferably formed with low or slightly projecting alining flanges which may project no more than about the thickness of the attaching members 'and which preferably have inclined or somewhat wedging inner sides so as to engage and grip the coo iierating butter member. The buffer front member which may be of spring steel or other resilient strip metal has connector portions which may be of substantially flat cross-section preferably with somewhat rounded edges and of such shape as. to have proper alining action in connection with the channeled section connector portions "of the attaching members with which they cooperate, and it is also desirable to have the buffer front member formed with integral end loops adapted to project into protective position in front of the wheels of the automobile or other vehicle and have substantially straight inturned connector portions where substantial lateral adjustment is to be secured with respect to the attaching members. For this purpose clamping means of any suitable character may be used to adjust-ably and releasably connect these cooperating connector portlons and a frictional bolted clip which substantially embaces the intermediate or central parts of these connector portions may be advantageously used for this purpose and may force the connector portions together so as to rigidly and reliably clamp them in the desired alined position.

' lln the accompanying drawing which shows in a somewhat diagrammatic way an illustrative embodiment of this in fiention,

Figure 1 is a plan View of a buifer.

Fig. 2 is a transverse section thereof taken substantially along the line 2-2 of Fig. 1; and c Fig. 3 is an enlarged partial sectional view of the connector port-ions.

The resilient buffer front member may as shown in Fig. 1 consist of a single resilient strip of tempered spring steel, for example, and may comprise the end loops 2, 3 adapted to pro ect into protective position in front of the automobile wheels and preferably ha ing substantially straight inturned con nector portions 5 which may be nearly parallel to the cooperating or adjacent front parts l of this member or may inwardly diverge therefrom at a slight angle as indicated. These end loop portions may merge into curred portions toward the center of the buffer front member and if desired in some cases a substantially straight middle port on 1 may be provided, although this is not in all cases necessary. A buffer front member of this character may be conveniently bent to shape while heated by forcing or bending the strip around a form and then hardening and tempering the same if desired so as to secure the desired resilient strength.

1e cooperating attaching members connecting the butter front to the automobile frame or other part of the vehicle may advantageously he formed of resilient strip such as tempered spring taching members 8, 9 may each comprise a forwardly and outwardly bent portion 10 merging into a connector portion 11 which is preferably substantially straight and has a channeled section of such size and shape as to cooperate with the inturned connector portion member. The alining flanges 12 which are preferably at the edges of this connector portion are also advantageously formed on their inner sides with a slightly inclined or wedging contour so as to have the (lg-sired gripping a-lining action on the c oiiperating connector portions of the butter front member when these two parts are forced together by the clamping means employed. It is also in some cases advantageous to form the entire or at least a largepart of the attaching members of channel sectioned strip in which to facilitate bending. etc,

the edge flanges .12 project only about the thickness of the strip beyond the inner face thereof and Fig.

steel and these at-- e at that end of the buffer front- 3 shows some proportions degree of 7' forced tween accommodate other attaching devices .i so

which give good results under these conditions when used with spring steel strip members about gt-hs of an inch thick. These alining flanges 1:2 may project about a quar ter of an inch beyond the inner or fiat face of the spring channel member 11 and their inner sides 22 are preferably formed with a slightly inclined or wedging contour seas to-have a ripping engagement on the cooperating bull ith rounded or rethe. character inditageously be formed w lievd edges of about cated. These edgelflanges may sometimes be bent down or flattened into the plane of the strip at the rear of these attaching members or times bebent vertically as indicated in Fig. 2 so as toforni the upwardly extending ends 16 :WlllCll may be provided with adjusting apertures such as the slot 17 and hole 18 to the stems of the hookbolts or 2O securing'the same to the frame member 21 ofthe automobile, for instance, as through the action of the nuts 19. Additional stiffness is of course se cured by leaving the upper flange in its normal projecting positionat the point 16 of this part of the attaching member, as in dicated in Fig. 2.

As shown in Fig. 1, the connector port ons of these buifer members may when they are formed substantially straight give a.

considerable range of lateral adjustment to the attachlng members so that they may fit u automobiles having frame members located at different distances apart since through the alining or grippingengagement of the alining flanges which may be formed on they attaching members a suiiiciently strong and rigid connection may be secured by an overlap of three or four inches or more when an effective clamping device such as the inclosing clip 13 is used to force these connector portions adjacent their center. Such a. frictional clamping device may of course be slipped or forced over the interlocked conne ioii portions when this clip is in its 'opened orl released position and then the bolt 14 may bef'tightened so as to force tl'ieseiconnector portions together into grippingannia cooperation which usually rigid and strong congives a sufiiciently nection between the butter members when an overlap of four; inches or so is secured beyond the ends 6,"? of the inturned connector portions of the buffer front member.

In this way an ample range of adjustment can readily be secured since eaehof the attaching members may be moved outward as much as six or more inches beyond the position shown in Fig. 1 and still secure proper cooperation betweenthe substantially straight connector portions and of course the greater overlap secured in such cases iner strip] .5 which may be them and which may advanthe flanged strip ends may some taching members so as not. to deform their allning flanges throughout the connector portions thereof and this is facilitated by making the connector portions substantially straight and by having the form around this part of the hot strip may be bent of such shape so as to principally or entirely engage the intermediate tiat portion of the attaching member. ln some cases also the flanged connector portions thereof may be engaged by accurately fitting shaping dies or formers in connection with this bending operation or otherwise. so that the accurate positioning and spacing of these alining flanges may be insured in this way or they may be subsequently ground or otherwise finished and sized in any suitable way, if desired.

This buffer may of course be readily taken apart and put together and adjusted on an automobile by the ordinary chaufi'eur or canowncr without special tools or appliances, it being naturally understood that the attaching members are of such form and'construction as to be adapted to be clamped or otherwise secured to the automobile i'rame. \Vhcn disconnected the parts of: this bufiermay be readily packed and stored and shipped-wwhich is also an important considerationin this connection.

This invention has been described in connection with a number of cmbmlinicnts. forms. proportions. parts. arrangements.materials. methods of n'nuiui acturc. connection and use to the details of which disclosure the invention is not of course to be limited. since what is claimed as new and what is de- ,sired to be secured by Letters Patent is set forth in the appended claims.

I claim- I 1. The automobile buffer comprising a resilient bufler front member formed of: spring steel strip, saidbufier front member having rearwardly bent integral end loop portions adapted to project into protective position in front of the vehicle wheels and having integral inturned substantially straight connector portions channeled. sectioned spring steel strip attaching members having forwardly and outwardly curved portions and integral substantially straight connector portions having slightly projecting gripping alining flanges provided with inclined wedging inner sides adapted to coiiperate with the inturned connector-portions of said butler front member and have substantially tight wcdging engagement therewith and frictional clip clamping means mclosmg the cooperating connector port1ons adjacent each end of thebufi'er and forcing them together.

2. The automobile butler comprising a resilient bufier front member formed of.

spring steel strip, said buiferfront member having integral end loop portions adapted to project into protective position infront of the vehicle Wheels and hai -I ing integral inturned substantially straight connector portions, channeled sectioned spring steel strip attaching members har- Eng integral substantially straight eonnector portions having slightly projecting gripping alining flanges provided with We lging inner sides adapted to cooperate wit 1 the inturned connector portions ofsaid bnfi'er front member and have substantially tight Wedging engagement therewith and clamping means engaging thecooperating connector portions adjacent each end of the buffer and forcing them together.

3. The automobile bufi'er'compris'ing a resilient buffer front member having integral end loop portions adapted to project into protective position in front of the vehicle wheels and having integral inturned substantially straight connector. portions,

spring steel strip attaching members hav- 111g forwardly and outwardly curved portions and integral substantially straight channel section connector portions having slight] y projecting gripping alining flanges adapted to adji'istably cooperate with thenr Y turned connector portions of said buffer front member and have substantially tight engagement therewith and clamping means engaging cooperating connector port-ionsadjacent each end of the butter and holding them together; l. The automobile buffer comprising a resilient buffer front member having integral end loop portions adapted to project into protective position in frontof the vehicle Wheels and having integral inturned connector portions, resilient strip attaching mem-- hers having curved portions and mtegral channel section connector portions having alining flanges adapted to adjust-ab]? co perate with the interned connectorportions of said bnfler front member and cla nping means cooperating with the l onhector portions ad acent each end of the I betterand holdin them together.

5. The automo )ile butter comprising a vertically rigid and horizontally resilient buffer vfront member havingintegral in turned substantially straight connector ortions, channel sectioned resilient attac ing members having integral substantially straight connector portions each having a plurality of slightly projecting alining edge flanges adapted to iadjustabl coo crate with the connector pd ortions 0t said front member and clamping means coopcrating with the connector portions adjacenteach end of the butter. n 6. The automobile buffer omprising a re- -silit-in't butter front member having substantially straight connector port-ions, channe sectioned attaching members having integral substantiall straight connector pop tions each having a plurality of gripping alining edge flanges, adapted to cooperate with the connector portionsof said bufl'en 

